“So she sat on with closed eyes, and half believed herself in Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all would change to dull reality”
— from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

and suddenly ivy is curling
round your bones, upward

from a carpet of red
webbed spines and prickling

tiger-lilies burst from your pores
in full blossom

and when you open your eyes
you are Alice, tethered and dangling

in the space between
Wonderland and this tricky web

nevermind how you got here

the summer sun is setting, melting
behind cherry-satin curtains

a bloodbath of light thickens the air
and an arm-chair veined with ivy
roots your bones in web

this red red room is all gushing
and pounding with the echo of your pulse